NEW ULM - Rosetown defeated New Ulm Gold 12-7 in semi-final action at the Upper Midwest Classic Sunday morning at Johnson Park.
Rosetown, which hails from Roseville, used three, four-run innings to jump to a 12-3 lead after five innings. Although Gold staged a rally in the sixth and seventh innings, Rosetown prevailed for the victory.
Zack Hayes got the win for Rosetown. He pitched the final four innings and allowed four runs on four hits.
Article Photos
Staff photo by Mark Newsom
New Ulm Legion Gold’s Nathan Palmer throws back to the first baseman to turn a double play against the Rosetown Rockets on Sunday morning during the Upper Midwest Classic at Johnson Park in New Ulm. Rosetown defeated Gold 12-7 and advanced to the championship game.
Drew Pfaff took the loss for Gold. He was charged with seven runs in his three innings on the mound.
Ben Burkle, Sam Podobinski and Connor Polydoroff each had three hits for Rosetown.
Jason Shaul led New Ulm with four hits including two doubles and a solo home run. He drove in three runs. Kevin Larson added two hits. Larson and Zach Hoffmann each had two RBI.
"They are a very good hitting team." said New Ulm coach Bob Weier about Rosetown. "They put runners in motion, and they hit some ground balls that found holes. We were not able to stop the bleeding in that (fifth) inning. They had a couple of chunkers. We had an error. We did not quite recover from that."
The fifth inning started off with infield singles from Podobinski and Polydoroff. After reliever Jory Dove fanned Richie Podvin, Austin Colvard hit an RBI double for a 9-3 lead.Ben Burkle followed with a single to left field. When the ball scooted by Gold left fielder Hoffmann, two runs scored for an 11-3 lead. Tim Truniger's double gave a 12-3 cushion for Rosetown.
"We need to be more mentally tough," said Weier about the defeat. "That is the game of baseball. These things are going to happen. We need to find a way to stop the bleeding."
New Ulm took a 3-0 lead after 1 1/2 innings with a run in the first when Tim Kehren scored on an infield single and on the first of two Shaul doubles. Gold added two more runs in the second inning when Dylan Schreckenberg singled and Jordan Guggisberg walked, They both scored on a Larson double.
In the sixth inning, Shaul led off with a solo home run. However, Rosetown had a 12-3 lead.
"I thought that Drew (Pfaff) did a nice job," said Weier. "He threw strikes. I do not think that they hit the ball hard. But they hit the ball in places that we weren't."
In the bottom of the second inning, Rosetown got doubles from Dan Busch and Podobinski, a walk and two singles and two errors to take a 4-3 lead.
In the third inning, two more Gold errors coupled with four singles and a walk upped the Rosetown lead to 8-3.
The four-run fifth inning increased the lead to 12-3 before Shaul cut the lead to 12-4 with the home run.
In the seventh inning, Gold scratched out three runs when Guggisberg struck out but reached on a passed ball. Larson singled before both runners moved up on a double steal. Hoffmann's base hit to left cut the lead to 12-6, and a Shaul single brought in the final run.
"We picked up some fire in the late innings," Weier said. 'We built some momentum for ourselves."
Gold hosts Sleepy Eye tonight at 8 o'clock at Mueller Park. It plays Fairmont on Thursday at Mueller Park.